T-bill rates mixed on full award

MANILA, Philippines — Interest rates fetched by 91-day and 182-day Treasury bills (T-bills) rose moderately, while rates for the 364-day securities declined amid healthy market demand due to expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may pause in its rate hikes, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said yesterday.

This prompted the Treasury to fully award P15 billion worth of short-term securities – comprised of P4 billion in 91-day T-bills, P5 billion in 182-day T-bills, and P6 billion in 364-day T-bills.

Debt papers maturing in three months fetched an average rate of 5.394 percent, 9.9 basis points higher than the 5.295 percent recorded in the last successful auction for the securities two weeks ago.

Total tenders reached P6.805 billion, higher than the P4 billion offering.

Meanwhile, average rates for 182-day securities inched up by 1.1 basis points to reach 6.305 percent from last week’s level of 6.294 percent.

The P5 billion offering was more than twice oversubscribed, with total bids amounting to P12.998 billion.

On the other hand, average rates for 364-day T-bills declined by 4.3 basis points to 6.507 percent from the 6.55 percent registered in the previous auction.

Healthy demand met the P6 billion offering, with tenders multiplying more than twice to P15.78 billion.

“We are very pleased with the auction results, particularly on 182- and 364-day,” National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said.

According to De Leon, the auction for short-term securities met healthy demand as the market already wants to lock in their investments while rates are still high.

She said the market is expecting inflation to ease, which may give room for the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to pause its monetary policy tightening.